Tori of the duels
by Sebastian's Servant Felicia
Summary: News about new tournament was bound to get the attention of duelists alike. Especially one that reminded you of a previous duelist. Tori, a novice duelist, wanted to do something more when the school year was over finally got his wish when he caught the eye of one of his three idols.
1. Chapter 1

Tori wouldn't lie, he's been following the Duel Monsters scene since he was a kid. Always collecting the cards, buying card albums even deck cases for a future duel, even watching the live stream of the tournaments imagining himself as one of the duelists. From Duelist Kingdom to Battle City to the KC Grand Prix. He always rooted for his favorite duelists like the King of Games himself but there was also the silver duelist Seto Kaiba and the Bronze duelist Katsuya Jonouchi. Those three were the ones anyone would look up to. Even his fellow classmates held fan clubs for them, and Tori joined all three. It was hard to pick just ONE duelist over the other.

For now, things were just quiet. Tori shuffled his cards as he went through Industrial Illusions' web page trying to see if there were any news from them. If not, he usually went to Kaiba Corp's page to see if Seto was hosting another tournament. The eighteen year old's gray eyes lit up a little as he scrolled over a newsletter announcement:

 **Become King of the New Year.**

 **Tournament will be held on December 31st, show the world you have what it takes to be the King of the New Year.**

 **Can you handle it? Can you uphold your title? Prove it by registering.**

 **Deadline: October 24th.**

Tori just skimmed through the announcement. This was promising indeed. Clicking the register button he started to fill out his information. His summer was going to be busy. Busy practicing strategies, memorizing the elemental rock paper scissors, and anything else to help him ready for this. And not only that, but he could finally have something gold to display in his room, no...it wasn't just that. He did win awards here and there but those were second place archery trophies and medals, and he was proud of them but, with his school year almost over and taking a step out there he wanted to do something. Maybe this would help. After all, there were those who made their living off tournaments and events, but also this could get him to explore the world and maybe find a solid living. Tori shook his head, now was not the time to worry too much about the future, he had to focus on the now. Staring at the computer screen he went over everything one final time:

 **Name: Tori Shai**

 **Age: 18**

 **DOB: 12/12/98**

 **Residence: Domino, Japan**

 **Duel Experience: Novice**

 **Deck Type: Spell Casters**

And Submit. Tori closed out and shut down before grabbing his spell casters and wallet. He had a lot of training to do, and there was one place a person could go to work on their dueling skills and have fun at the same time. Kaiba Land.

The score was tied…sort of. Tori only had 1500, his opponent, a good friend of his Kevin, had 2000. Only a five hundred difference.

"Come on, where is she?" Tori poked at him. "One Dark Magician Girl, One Trap, One empty." He said. "Which hat will you chose?"

Kevin was frustrated to say the least. "Beast of Talwar! Attack the far left."

The monster charged at the hat, Tori's grin grew a little. Empty or Trap. Empty or Trap. When the 'smoke' cleared, a mirror stood in place, and a good attack point drop on the beast.

"What the hell?!"

Tori smiled."Oh, I'm sorry, it seems you found the Mirror Wall. When attacked, this continuous spell cuts your monster's attack points get cut in half. Making him weaker than my Dark Magician Girl, who is just about to come out for her big debut." He brought the magician out of hiding and smiled."But, first, I think I'll give her a gift. The Black Pendant, give her an extra five hundred points." After the power up he declared an attack on the Beast.

The magician twirled her staff before shooting a wave of magic at the monster. The score was almost evened out. Tori was standing there with a little cheeky grin on his face, Kevin just stood there in disbelief.

"Please tell me your earlier duels weren't a pool shark move." he pleaded.

Tori shook his head. "I'm just doing better at maintaining a poker face and making sure not to stare at my hiding spot." He laid a card face down. "So, what card did you say you would give me if I win?"

"First of all, go blow yourself." Kevin drew his card. "Second of all, suck on this." He laid a card destruction card. "Discard that hand of yours, I trust you as far as I can throw you!"

"Fine by me." Following the card description, both players drew a new hand. A new hand, a new game, a new out come. This was getting heated up. Kevin set a monster and another card face down and stared his friend down. Tori had his famous devil grin from when they were children.

A Dark Magic Veil was put into play, sacrificing 1000 life points, Tori was able to bring forth the Dark Magician himself from the grave. And adding thousand knives, he went to remove the face down monster. Cue a Negate Attack, which was fine, the Dark Magician girl could pick up where the master had left off.

"Do whatever you can, because the next turn is over." Tori promised. "It's your turn, Kev."

Jason just smiled at the scene before him, both were giving their all in this duel. Of course, despite this being a training session to help their friend with the New Year's Tourney, he still felt the need to record this. Mostly for a little comparison to show how far Tori came around. Even now, his friend was landing the final blow with Twin Magical burst. Kevin's life points dropped to zero whereas Tori had five hundred left. That small ball of energy had a triumphant smile on his face. He turned his phone off and went to meet with the two. The stakes were simple, whoever lost got to treat the loser to lunch. Though Kevin raised it by offering a rare card to the winner.

"Here you go, one graceful dice." Kevin handed the card to Tori. "Blow on it to get a six."

Tori accepted the card and smiled. "Good duel, Kev." he walked out of the arena with him. "I think a few more training sessions and I should be ready to go."

The three friends walked out of the arena and back out to the streets. The afternoon sun was starting to die down into the sunset. Tori just winced at the sight before hesitantly looking at his watch. It was almost six o clock, they really were working their asses off in there. Kevin just shook his head and nudged his friend.

"A few more training sessions my ass." He wrapped an arm around him. "Come on little idiot, let's get you fed before you duel yourself to starvation."

"Hey! I'm pretty good at taking care of myself."

Jason laughed and wrapped his arm around as well. "Yeah, when someone has to remind you. You had Siri programmed to remind you when lunch and dinner is!"

"Only for school!" Tori pouted. "And maybe the weekends."

The three friends just laughed and walked off into town. It seemed like nothing could ruin this day, if anything today would be getting quite interesting. The dueling arenas had a program to keep records of people's progress and dueling skills, it helped make it easier to invite certain people in certain events. After all, Kaiba Corp wasn't one to bring in amateurs and the likes. At the main building, a team of workers kept watch on the screens and the playbacks. One woman stood up and made her way to the office of Seto Kaiba with a play by play.

"Mr. Kaiba, you might want to see this." She handed the tablet to him. "He seems to have potential."

The CEO grabbed the tablet and watched the duel before him, his bored expression was slowly turning into a scowl. 'He seems to have potential' his ass! Predictable moves, sloppy use of trap cards, over confidence, the list could go on for miles. What was this? A carbon copy of Jonouchi? It was just too painful to watch.

"Kid will be eaten alive if he joins a tournament, who is he?" He turned the video off and went back to work.

"His name is Tori sir. He signed up to join the New Year's Tourney." the worker replied.

"Definitely won't make it past the first round. Ready the rejection letter, someone needs to let him down gently."

"Yes sir, Mr. Kaiba." The woman bowed once and left the office.

Seto shook his head and went back to work, this was just a waste of time. If he had a dollar for every duelist thinking they could keep up with the big leagues, well, he'd be even richer than he was today. Still, that cocky attitude got Katsuya through the finals of other events and he was titled bronze, not to mention he was one of the most recognizable duelist, one of the more important ones, so he couldn't really be too hard on such plays. No, he couldn't worry about past contests and events. He had the New Year's to focus on. He had to make sure the timing was perfect, the winner had to be announced as the ball dropped. Not to mention he had to find someone to make the trophy, then there were the constellation prizes. He was way too busy to worry about an amateur duelist, or a Jonouchi copy cat.

"Mr. Kaiba? The Rejection Letter as you requested." The assistant handed Seto the letter before leaving again.

Seto looked it over; "Dear Duelist, I will admit, you seem to have some skills. However, your skills are not needed for this particular tourney. To save you from humiliating yourself I'm afraid I have to reject your entry. Perhaps in the future you may be able to take part in something extreme. My condolences."

There, everything was in order. All he had to do was sign it and then have it mailed.

"For fuck's sake." He slammed the pen down and tossed the letter to the recycle bin before turning the tablet back on. "I'm going to regret this, I know I am." he muttered as he opened up the email function.

 **To: KameKameGame**

 **From: K_corporation**

 **Subject: You might want to see this**

 **[Video attachment]**

"Help this idiot out. Train him. Do whatever you can to get him in the top ranks. I will pay you whatever you want. Just help this idiot."

Seto.

 **Send.**

* * *

Okay, so that's chapter one. A few notes:

First of all, I'd like to thank my amazing friends for helping me with this. For reading, giving advice, or even encouraging this idea. So thank you; Ask-Henry-Yugi-Tudor, Brittany, Yugi-no-Puzzle, Mai-Valentine, and anyone else who I missed. You guys are amazing. And I love you all!

Second, this was slightly inspired by Yuri On Ice. The idea of a top medalist [or duelist in this case] taking on someone as their student and helping them win the gold just interested me. So, That's where this is most likely going to go. There is probably going to be a relationship in here. If not, then I change the tags.

Third and finally, I am open to any help and suggestions so if you throw out some help in the comments that'd be great for future chapters!


	2. Chapter 2

Okay! So, first off, Thank you for staying with me so far. And thank you to those who left reviews.

I'd like to give a special thanks to AskDuelistYugi for helping me out with the duel.

Notes are at the end.

* * *

 **KameKame has entered the chat.**

 **S_Corp has entered the chat.**

 **KameKame: He certainly has heart, and he seems to know what he is doing. What exactly are you struggling with about him?**

 **S_Corp: Everything. He reminds me too much of that mutt friend of yours!**

 **KameKame: Are you two still fighting? Well, what do you want me to do, you weren't really specific in your email.**

 **S_Corp: What goes on between Jonouchi and I is none of your damn business. As for the kid, train him. If he's going to be showing his face in my tournament, I expect him to give it everything he has. And from what I've seen, this kid is going to be chewed up on the first match.**

 **KameKame: It is my business! Jonouchi-kun is my friend, Seto!**

 **S_Corp: That's where we differ: See, I don't need petty friends to get me to be one of the best. But I guess there are few like me.**

 **KameKame: No, all you want is someone to warm your bed in a one night stand. ;)**

 **S_Corp: Okay, I'm not talking to you anymore about this. Are you going to Train the kid or let his dreams be crushed?**

 **KameKame: You sure drive a hard bargain, Seto. But, I'll accept, besides. It might be fun to see you squirm under the next King.**

 **S_Corp: Never going to happen.**

 **S_Corp Left the chat**

 **KameKame: hehe, looks like this is going to be interesting. Why stop at New Years?**

 **KameKame Left the chat.**

 **Thunk.**

Tori loaded another arrow and aimed at the bull's eye. He spent all weekend practicing different combos, and experimenting with various traps. This was one of the ways he could finally relax and release some stress, just a few solo rounds of archery. Not like there was much to do on Monday, his two friends had to leave for the states yesterday so any duel training would have to be through that duel simulator that was constantly rigged. Pulling the string, he let the arrow fly and hit the center again. Maybe he should go to the game shop, get a new pack of cards then maybe try his hand at that duel simulator at Kaiba Land, maybe he could get his mind off the Monday Blues.

Collecting his arrows, Tori went back to his room to put the archery equipment away and to snag his wallet and the spellcaster deck case. Though, he was a collector himself, the one he really made a deck for was spellcasters. Everything else was in a card album that was hidden away on the bookshelf. Just something to look through and smile when he was under the pressure of school. Giving a small smile to his room, he turned and left for the day and off to the bus station, one stop to the game shop for new cards, then it was off to Kaiba Land.

The Light Tram was always his favorite mode of transportation, instead the annoying poster ads, he was greeted with a live news report or any form of video ads. Mondays were famous for the news as during this point in time the only other people that took the tram were business employees and tired interns. Tori shook his head and leaned on the handrail, focusing on the interview with Seto Kaiba.

"What should we expect for the new tournament you are hosting?"

"As we all know, Yugi is still the undefeated King of Games. This is merely to bring a new challenger to the field, to give the next generation a shot at going after someone on the top of the food shelf."

"Will you be participating in this?"

"Don't ask questions you know the answer to." Seto said sharply. "I will be there to oversee it, but not as a participant. After all, someone has to sign the winning check."

So it looked like a prize money was included in the winnings. Tori just shrugged. The prize money was a promise he could get behind on, he could put that away for his travel plans and maybe one or two miscellaneous items on the side. Twenty minutes passed by before the tram stopped at Main Street. Tori hurried off to avoid being shoved around by the rushed interns and other businessmen and into the late afternoon sun. No doubt he would be murdered by the lunch rush, but it was worth the challenge. Tori looked to the town and took everything in, thirteen years, well soon to be fourteen years of living here and this town was forever changing. Everywhere you looked an old building was being remodeled to fit with the times or the technology is always out of date whenever Kaiba Corporation came out with the next latest invention. Though, it was KC that came out with the Light Tram and it was faster and more efficient than the buses in the past. Smooth sailing, on a set of rails, environment safe. Heck, even Kaiba Land had it's own update, before it was a regular old indoor amusement park with dueling platforms, now? Well it still had the old classic rides and more, but the duels were more interactive with the new duel disks and the holograms of the monsters really gave them life. Made them look more alive than their previous versions.

"Hey! Ever heard of keeping up with traffic!"

Tori snapped back to reality and moved to the side to let the angry passerby move through. Of course, with the new changes some things will forever remain the same. He brushed his onyx hair out of his eyes and moved on towards the Kame Game shop, just a few blocks from main street it was settled in a suburban area, or 'classic domino' as some people dubbed it. Due to the area being a close community the buildings couldn't really be remodeled too much so they kept their classic rustic charm about them. Classic Domino was still pretty populous due to being home of said game shop, the best part was on certain days, and on certain times, games and toys were on sale!

Entering the store with enthusiasm, Tori looked over the shelves. Board games were on sale for the day as well as whatever cards were on display on the counter where a young male slightly older than him was at, tapping away on a tablet. Tori went up to him and cleared his throat, "Excuse me?" he called out.

"Be with you in just one second." the man said.

Tori took the time to take in his features, black hair with red stripes in a ponytail, golden bangs hanging lazily on the side of his face, and dark pink sunglasses with specks of rhinestones covering his eyes. Strange appearance but, who was he to judge. The man turned the tablet off and set it aside before turning to Tori.

"Pardon about that," he said. "Mr. Kaiba was wondering if I had any cards to spare as consolation prizes for the upcoming tournament."

"Oh, it's fine" Tori assured. "It's been all over the news after all. You must be pretty busy with duelists coming in for new cards huh?"

"As well as everywhere else." he tilted his glasses forward to meet Tori's eyes. "Are you a duelist yourself?"

"I am, sort of. I've been spending my summer working on different plays and combos. My theme is Spellcasters." Tori looked down to the counter. "Ah, anything you would recommend?"

The man had a small smile. "I might." He stood up and went to flip the open sign to close. "But it's going to come at a price."

"I have a feeling money isn't what you're going to be asking." Tori took his deck case out. "Is it a duel you're asking me?"

The smile just grew. "I have a card table in the back room, show me the results of your summer duels that you seem to be confident about."

"Consider the match won." Tori grinned and followed him to the back.

"Before we begin, I'd like to know your name."

"It's Tori, and you?"

"Just call me Yami." he smiled. "Let's begin the duel then, Tori."

This was bad. Tori had a look of panic in his eyes. The duel started out in his favor, he knocked this man's life points down to 2500, by either experience or sheer dumb luck, Tori was down to his final 500. Playing field wasn't exactly even either. Tori had no monsters and his opponent had Dark Magician and Curse of Dragon on the field as well as a facedown. One final attack and he was done for!

"You show that kind of weakness on the field and your opponent will take advantage of it." Yami mused. "Take a few breaths, relax. This is just for fun between us after all."

Right. Fun. Tori closed his eyes and tried to settle himself. There could be a way out of this, but even so there's that face down he has to worry about. Whatever, he had to chance it. His draw. Tori looked at the card and smiled, this could help.

"First I'll play Dark Hole which sends all monsters on the field to the graveyard."

"Which I will counter with De spell." The man flipped the card over. "Canceling all magic effects."

Tori silently cursed. Okay, there went that plan."On second thought, I'll just lay this card face down and summon a monster in defense mode."

Yami smiled at him. "You played with honor, for that I applaud you. I'll have my curse of dragon rid your face down monster. Then my dark magician at your life points directly."

"Hate to break this, but, my face down?" Tori flipped the card over. "Negate attack. Sorry Curse of Dragon. No attack for you."

"Your face down still isn't safe from the dark magician." Yami pointed out. "Leaving you defenseless next turn."

Okay yeah, there was that. Tori smiled and held up a card, "I think I'll bring someone from your graveyard if you don't mind." Monster Reborn. "Come on back Valkyrion and take care of that dragon for me!"

"You really should be more aware of your opponent's side of the field. You forgot about the face down." Yami had a small grin. "Go, Mirror Force. Congratulations, you just wiped out your own life points."

Duel. Over.

Tori started to collect his cards. "I guess I still have a lot to learn huh?" he said with disappointment.

"Yes, you do." Yami reshuffled his cards for a bit. "You also need someone to properly teach you. Self teaching can only go a long way."

"I doubt I'll find someone that won't ask for an arm and a leg." Tori put his cards away.

"I wouldn't be so sure. My family and I used to train duelists in the past, one of our students became the Bronze duelist."

Tori looked up at him in surprise. "You trained Katsuya Jonouchi?"

A small nod. "Indeed, I did. And I intend to train you as well, Tori."

"Train me?" he repeated.

Yami nodded with a grin. "What do you say?" he asked. "You don't want to lose in Kaiba's tournament, believe me."

Tori raised an eyebrow. "Really? It's not like I wouldn't go down without a fight."

"I've seen that, but there might be better duelists out there, heck, there will be better duelists at the tournament, and losing comes with a bitter aftertaste in your mouth." Yami pointed out.

Tori raised his eyebrow a little, it sounded like he had experienced with what was going on in tournaments. Then again he did seem to know Kaiba on a certain level. He was sure Kaiba wouldn't just call any store for some consolation prizes. People knew Kaiba. Well, not in that way, but he had a reputation. Anything even related to it meant serious business.

"Have you ever competed in tournaments before?" Tori asked as he was cleaning up the cards, Yami doing the same.

"Oh, well, I wouldn't say I've ever been in many… I've had a lot of invites from other places that aren't organized by KaibaCorp, yet I haven't really responded to them. I rather keep it to the shop and the more important duels, you could say."

Yami licked his lips, feeling nervous and uneasy, that alone brought Tori's full attention. The next question was, did he dare press on or did he just leave well alone? Well, he did wanted to take advantage of the training offer so it was probably best not to back him into a corner.

"I see." was all he said. "Well, in any case. I accept your offer, Yami." Tori put his cards back into the case and stood up. "So, when do I meet you for training sessions?"

That brought the other at ease. "I have a yearly pass for Kaiba Land. Meet me there every day at five thirty."

"But doesn't that place close at seven? We're only going to have two and a half hours to train."

"Don't worry too much about the time. Just be sure to show up."

Tori nodded. "Alright, I'll meet you tomorrow at five thirty." He promised. "Have a good day, Yami."

"You as well."

* * *

* Yugi runs the Kame game shop. He's wearing his hair in a ponytail and sunglasses to keep from being mobbed by fans.

*Yugi is using Atem's nickname [Yami] as an Alias, again to keep from being mobbed by fans.

*Seasonal Passes are amazing. What's more amazing than a seasonal pass to Kaiba Land? VIP ACCESS CARD!

*From here on out, chapters are going to start/end in either a chat room or some other messaging media.


	3. Chapter 3

Right, I struggled like hell with this. So here we are!

I'd like to give a special thanks to Millennium-shitpost, Mai-Valentine, and Ask-Henry-Yugi-Tudor for helping me out with the chapter in general.

* * *

5:25

Tori was running like a bat out of hell towards the indoor amusement park. Three different tram waits just to get to main street, that and rush hour traffic was just horrible, no matter what he did he was going to be late. This was no doubt a great start to meeting with his new trainer!

"Oh I can see his face right now." Tori made a sharp turn,nearly out of breath. "What a great first impression I'm going to make!"

Making his way to the entrance of the building, Tori hunched over for a gasp of air. Slowly, he straightened himself up and made his way inside. Part of him was hoping that his trainer was also caught in the rush hour mess, if that was the case then he might not have to worry about seeing a scowl on his face.

"I was wondering if you were going to make it today." Came the smooth tone.

Damn. Tori mentally cursed before turning to see his trainer by the door with a book in hand. "Rush hour." He said. "I had a hard time getting a Light Tram it was so packed at the station-"

"Humor me, Tori. Do you think officials would let 'rush hour' pass for you being late?"

"Well-"

"No. They wouldn't. If you fail to show you're automatically disqualified." Yami closed his book and stood up. "Come, take a walk with me. You won't need your deck today, we're going over spells today. Not to mention, we're just going to have some fun in the process. Have you tried the other attractions here? I heard Mr. Kaiba added in a virtual Senet game in the arcade feature here."

Senet? Tori raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "Ah, no...I mean, I've been on a few rides when this place was starting out. I honestly don't remember much of it, I do have some pictures in a photo album from this place if that counts?"

"Then it's a good thing we're here." he lead the way to the arcade.

"So, this is just a review over some of the basics?" Tori asked, looking around the park.

"Of course, knowledge is a terrible thing to waste." Yami smiled once at him. "So then, before we walk in and begin our mindless game sessions, could you tell me the effects of Swords of Revealing Light?"

Tori smiled, this was going to be easy. "Prevents the opponent's monsters from attacking for three turns."

Yami was eating a packet of skittles as he watched Tori play Mazan Flash of the Blade, no wait, correction. He was eating skittles and quizzing the boy on Spell cards WHILE said boy was playing Mazan Flash of the Blade.

"Which Monster must you be wary of when it comes to spell cards."

Tori was slashing at the Spider Lady, parrying every once in awhile. "Yami, I don't think this is the appropriate setting for a monster question, Oh god!" he hurried to block the attack with the sword again.

"Oh it's the perfect setting alright. Now which monster destroys spell cards?" he repeated.

"Yami, I'm fighting a freaking spider here! I can't focus on the trivia right now!"

"So you're saying, you can't focus with a third party talking? You do know there's going to be announcers and spectators that are bound to be a distraction." Yami popped another skittle in his mouth. "Okay, here's the deal. For every answer you get right you can have a skittle."

"What the-" Tori turned away from the screen. "How would I even enjoy the skittle if I'm fighting?"

"We'll worry about that later, also you might want to focus on the game. Parry."

Tori yelped and turned back to the screen. "Right, uh Reaper of Cards! This monster has the ability to destroy magic cards!"

"There we go. See how easy it was." Yami smiled.

Tori broke his attention away for a brief moment and turned to Yami, ready to chew him out. His teacher wasn't paying attention much, just focused on the screen before him. It was a little strange, from the side, his mentor reminded him of someone.

"You know, from the side you look like-"

-You're about to die." Yami finished.

"Wait what?"

"You might want to turn back to the screen and parry."

Fuck! Tori was away from the game long enough for the spider to have killed him. He turned and groaned at the game over screen, he turned back to Yami and stuck his tongue out.

"Thanks a lot! I was on a roll here."

"You sure were. Though, I'm not to blame for you being easily distracted." Yami pointed to the screen. "You're on the top thirty, and even better, you're number nine on the board. So I suppose that balances out the bad."

Tori just stared in awe, it was rather amazing. He smiled and signed his name on the board, and turned to his trainer. Yami grabbed Tori's shoulder for a moment and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You did good Tori."

"Yeah?" Tori put the sword back. "So, do I get a prize for being in the top thirty?"

Yami chuckled and gave the rest of the pack of candy to him. "We have the park to ourselves now, it's past closing. Let's get you some food before we leave."

"Wait- if it's past closing time… Doesn't that mean the gates will be locked!?" Tori asked worriedly.

Yami laughed and shook his head. "It's not like I haven't spend a night here."

Tori looked at Yami with a half hearted smile, at least he didn't need to be that worried. The two left the arcade and went for a drink in the snack-bar not too far from them. Yami went around back of the stand and got two microwavable nachos for them to enjoy as well as a couple of parfaits for dessert. Tori couldn't help but to laugh a little bit at the stunt his teacher was pulling.

"We're going to get into so much trouble!" Tori said in between laughs.

"You don't seem to mind though. Besides, I'll leave the payment on the counter."

The two laughed and enjoyed their dinner together. During such, Tori noticed Yami was still wearing his sunglasses even though the park was dark and the only light they had was the sunset.

"Uhm, so if I may ask; why do you wear your sunglasses all the time?" Tori pointed to the glasses with the spoon.

Yami seemed to clench his plastic spoon a little too tightly and looked up from the parfait. "Photophobia." He blurted. "Everything's too bright for me." He explained further after seeing Tori's confusion.

"Oh I see…" Tori nodded. He played with his food for a moment before he looked up again. "Do you think I'd be able to defeat Yugi Mutou?" A stupid question, but it was to drive from the discomfort of his teacher.

Yami froze again. He seemed to be doing that quite frequently when Tori asked certain things…He definitely had quite the number of secrets to keep hidden. Yami hurried and cleared his throat.

"Well, let's be honest, You'll first have to defeat Katsuya Jonouchi." he turned back to his food, with a light shrug. "Who knows, maybe you'll meet him at the New Year Tournament, if not well, I'm sure I can track him down for you to challenge some day."

"How can you be sure to find him?" Tori went to his own parfait. "I mean, he's probably out of Domino and striking it big at one of the games."

"Are you forgetting I was his teacher? Believe me, I can get you to meet the big shots while you're under my wing; as well as making sure you're in the big leagues as well."

"The person I'd really like to meet then would be Yugi. I've always looked up to him ever since I started dueling…" Tori smiled and got out his deck. "It's why I too have spellcasters. I don't want to copy him, but I know he's the strongest one out there, and I just couldn't help but wonder… What if… He's up against someone who's almost the same as him? Just as strong, just as passionate?"

Yami smiled at that. And it was an honest, heartwarming smile. "We'll see. Even if you lose a few fights, my friends taught me you should never give up on your dreams. I know one day, you'll be able to duel him on the same level." Yami, stood up and tossed the trash away, he turned to Tori and held his hand out. "Come on, I know how to operate some of the rides here. One ride, then we'll call it a night."

"I've said it before, I'll say it again; we are going to get into so much trouble." Tori accepted the hand and followed him further into the park. There were a few other questions he had for his teacher, but they would have to wait. For the time being, after being quizzed while playing a wide variety of games that required focus, he just wanted a well-needed break.

"Here we are," Yami went to the control panel. "The Chop Man's Manor," He smiled at Tori. "Go on, I'll join in just a second."

Tori shook his head and took his heat in one of the cars, he watched Yami tap away at the controls before running over and sitting beside him. "Hope you have a strong heart," he teased his pupil. "This ride can be pretty intense."

"I'm not about to back down from a simple ride."

"That's what I'd like to hear." Yami chuckled. "Do watch out for spiders though, I hear they enjoy dark places to hide." He flicked Tori's hair a little. "Your hair might be an invitation."

Tori gently swatted his hand away. "Oh very funny."

The ride started with a jerk before slowly taking the two into the dark abyss. Ominous organ music accompanied with the screams of the 'victims' and the whirling of the chainsaw echoed, accompanied by a maniacal laughter. Tori shook his head lightly at the ride, despite it being a 'kids' ride', it was still rather gruesome. Then again, back at the states there was a haunted attraction that had the cops involved. Twice. And someone having a heart attack after leaving it. It was just that extreme. Tori had made plans to visit that particular house when he returned to the states someday, the thought of an intense scare was something that brought a smile to his face.

"I'm glad you're enjoying the ride." Yami mused.

Tori nudged him a little. "There's something much worse than this." He said. "New Orleans have this haunted house that's super intense, a woman had a heart attack on it."

"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow. "You've been through this?"

"No, I was too young. I do plan to go there some time after I have the funds."

Their conversation halted when a skeleton was dropped on Yami and he froze. "Get it off." He … Yami squeaked!

Tori laughed as he got the new passenger off his mentor and placed it next to him. "You aren't scared of a fake skeleton now, are you?" He teased, grabbing its hand and waving it at Yami.

"Well, I've been through some scary stuff involving one, alright?"

"Well, think of it in this way then," Tori said, "Humans are skeletons with squishy armour."

"That doesn't- ouff!" Yami and Tori whiplashed in their seat as the cart came to a sudden stop, causing the younger of the two to lay awkwardly on the elder.

"What the hell happened?" Tori asked, slowly moving off Yami's lap.

"Ride must have stalled." Yami sighed. "This ride is notorious for that." He dug out his phone.

"So what do we do? I don't think the ride's going to let us unbuckle our seat belts to let us off."

"Well, looks like a call to Mr. Kaiba is in order." Yami took note of Tori's worried expression. "Don't worry, I will take the fall. You won't get in trouble." He dug around his pocket for his phone, it was a little hard due to the lap bar, but he managed to fish it out.

"Roland? Is Seto available?" he paused. "Yes, this is an emergency...Of course I'll hold."

Tori leaned a little close to listen to the conversation, he was rather curious about the outcome as well as their relationship. Not that he cared, but, it couldn't hurt to listen.

 **"So, what do I owe the pleasure of you calling me Yu-"**

"We're stuck on the Chop Man's Manor ride." Yami interrupted. "Can you get someone down here and get us off?"

 **"Two questions; why the hell are you still at Kaiba Land after closing, and when you say 'we' who are you talking about?"**

"By 'we' I mean my student and I. Look, I'll explain everything when we're off the ride and out of the park. Can you just get us out of here?"

 **"Is there something I need to know?"**

"Kaiba I can hear you smirking behind the phone!" Yami huffed and held his head, he could hear Kaiba laughing on the other end of the line. Yami hung up and turned to Tori, "Sorry about that, I forgot he gets off on poking through other people's businesses."

Tori had covered his mouth to prevent laughing, once he regained himself he turned back to his teacher. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm just glad he's going to be getting us off this ride." he turned so he was looking at the tracks. "So uh, you and Mr. Kaiba sounded like you were close?"

"We went to school together, shared some classes. I don't want to call us friends, but I don't want to call us hated enemies. More like, we respect and tolerate each other." Yami looked down at him. "Do you have someone like that?"

Tori shook his head. "Nah, I don't really interact with my classmates that much. I just stay with my childhood friends; Kevin and Jason. Two years older than me so." he smiled a little. "They left for the states yesterday, we still chat online."

"Am I safe to assume they were the ones who helped you with your summer training?"

"You would assume right." Tori smiled a little and leaned back in his seat. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Yami looked down at him.

"What about your high school experience?"

"It was...something. I have some friends who left Domino as well. My friend Anzu went to New York, Ryou went to Egypt."

"Egypt huh? My mom taught a class there one time, she's a history teacher."

"Oh really? World History?"

"Yeah, well she's pretty spontaneous. She'll start with Victorian era England, and then go back from there. Go from the queen of England to the pharaohs of Egypt. It's pretty wild when you add in the fact she uses mythology and stories to go with the unit. She believes that there's an element of truth within stories."

The two were like this for a little while before the ride started up again with a jolt, bringing them further into the ride and towards the exit.

 **"Gentlemen, thank you so much for your patience, your ride is back on schedule. Please, enjoy your time here at Kaiba Land. Because the second you get off, I'm going to kick your ass Mutou."**

Yami paled a little. "Oh, Looks like Mr. Kaiba kept his word after all."

Tori raised an eyebrow. "Did he just call you Mutou?"

"Yes he did." Yami solemnly agreed.

When the ride came to the end, Seto was there with his signature scowl. Tori didn't even wait for him to say anything, that icy glare was enough to tell him to scram. Yami watched as Tori bolted from the attraction and to the exit of the building before turning to the CEO.

"So, I believe this is the part where I say sorry for trespassing you can rest easily knowing that we're never going to do that again."

"Try again Mutou," Seto said, crossing his arms. "So, status report on the kid? You are training him I hope?"

"I am." Yugi removed his sunglasses and looked up at him. "He is a little brash I'm not going to lie. Even with me continuously questioning him on spell cards he managed to place himself on some of the score boards here. I won't lie, his skills with a sword is questionable, I'm amazed he did well in Mazan."

"So, he knows his spells. What about his dueling?"

"You weren't kidding when you said his moves were predictable. Hopefully tomorrow proves better results."

"You better hope so, because if he shows up on the thirty first and bombs the first round I'm going to have both of your heads!" He nodded to the door. "You should get going."

"As should you." Yugi turned and left. "Have a good night, Seto."

After arriving home, Yugi tossed his sunglasses to the desk and went to the bookshelf. He had mostly photo albums and history books, but he wasn't there for light reading. No, he had a special game on the third shelf, it was a closure gift from Ryou after Atem's passing into the afterlife and during the times where it was hard to sleep or hard to focus, he would bring it out and start playing with it. Most of the time, he did get Atem to answer other times, he barely got anything.

Getting the Ouija board out and set up, he closed his eyes and took a small breath.

"Atem? It's me, I know it's been a while. I have so much to tell you, if you're here."

The planchette moved across the board.

A-I-B-O-U.


	4. Chapter 4

Writer's block was hell. Here it is finally

Special thanks to friends, you know who you are!

* * *

Tori laid in bed, computer beside him opened on video chat and a small stress relief ball in his hands. He kept tossing the ball in the air and catching it while listening to his friend's update on their life back in the states. Well, he was only half listening. The events of yesterday was still bothering him, it wasn't the questionable teaching methods. It was how secretive he was, heck earlier that morning, when he questioned his teacher about why Kaiba addressed him as 'Mutou' he shifted to their appointment. A walk in the park later today for another lesson.

"Tori? Are we boring you?" Jason asked, snapping Tori back to the present.

"No, I just have a lot on my mind." Tori replied with a soft tone.

"Do we need to come down and kick someone's ass?"

"No Jay, but my mind is on someone." Tori sat up and tossed the ball at the bedroom door. "It's my teacher, Yami? The guy I told you about in my email?"

Kevin spoke up. "I swear on my Skull Dice, if you say the words 'I think I'm falling for him' I am hopping on the first plane to Domino."

"Shut up, I barely even know him! No, what's bothering me is he has more secrets surrounding him than freaking Atlantis! No matter what I ask him he tenses up or avoids the question all together!" Tori got up to pace around. "I even tried to confront him about this and he changes the topic like I never even asked him."

"Okay, as someone who deals with the weird since high school. Atlantis doesn't have THAT many secrets surrounding it. Actually, this professor, Hawkins? He actually-"

"Now is not the time to go on about your eighth wonder conspiracies, Kevin!" Jason scolded. "As for your problem Tori, I say the subtle route is over. Be blunt."

"That's going to get him to drop me as his student off the bat. I am so not losing a teacher."

Tori glanced at the wall clock and sighed

"Hey guys, I have to get going. It's almost time for me to meet up for another Duel Monsters 101 with Yami."

"Have fun in class." Kevin teased.

"Be sure to bring an apple for your teacher." Jason laughed.

Tori shook his head and exited out of the chat before turning his computer off. He grabbed his wallet and deck case before heading out again. Leaving his room and heading down the stairs, he passed by an open room. His father worked from at home mostly while his mother was at the university teaching away.

"Hey, Dad? I'm heading out to meet my teacher."

His father nodded and looked up. "Call if you're staying late."

"It wasn't our fault we lost track of time."

"I mean it, Tori."

"Alright, I'll call if something like that happens again." Tori rolled his eyes and left the house. Still the same protective father, that's never going to change either. Returning to the afternoon sunlight, Tori closed his eyes and took a breath of air, the hot muggy air was enough to make it hard to breath. It was one of the hottest days of the summer, this was going to be hell on earth. Ice cream had better be involved in the lesson. Biting his lips, he returned back inside to get a water bottle; there was no way he was going to pass out from heatstroke.

"Right on time, well more like five minutes early. But hey, you made it on time."

And there was the comment. Tori shook his head and made his way to the bench where his teacher was.

"Yeah, Well, I didn't need another 'be on time' lecture. So I left earlier."

"Good." Yami stood up. "Come, we don't want to keep our opponents waiting."

"A duel already?"

"Yes. You know the spells and their effects, which now I'm more surprised you didn't catch the mistake I made in our first duel."

"Mistake?" Tori looked up at him. "What mistake?"

"De-Spell, it doesn't stop Dark Hole's effect." Yami pointed out. "You would have won and turn the duel around."

"Wait seriously? What the hell then!?"

"Technically that was your first lesson. Observing the playing field, your opponent may try to cheat you out of victory." Yami shrugged. "But, this duel is going to be different. You are going to be expected to pay attention to the field, but you and I are going to be working together on this one. The rest will be explained later."

A tag team duel. That alone should be an interesting lesson due to the fact it was a game of surprises. Different deck type working together and different plays balancing each other out. Since his partner was a man who taught Katsuya Jonouchi, so he would be working with a powerful deck alongside his own novice structure one. The outcome is bound to work in their favor. The idea of them dueling side by side just made him grin.

"Someone's lookin' confident" came an amused tone.

"He takes after his teacher." Yami informed. "I suppose it's what I get from being around you too long."

"Hey!"

Tori snapped back and looked over to where his teacher was. Standing beside him was a man with brown hair styled in a point, no idea who he was. But beside the brunet was-

"Katsuya Jonouchi." Tori breathed in awe.

Yami just smiled. "Told you I'd be able to get him here. Jonouchi is not only my student, but also a good friend of mine."

"So you're the mysterious Tori Yami told me about." The blond walked over and held his hand out. "Nice to meet ya in person. I look forward to helping with your lesson of the day. Of course, don't think I'll go easy on ya."

"I don't expect you too." Tori shook his hand. "This is...Wow, I mean you're one of the big name duelists and ...you're here helping a newbie."

Jonouchi just laughed. "Ah come off it, I'd help ya out even if you were a champion! So, are we going to start this tag team duel or what?"

"Impatient as ever, Jonouchi." Yami smiled. "It will be Tori and I, versus you and Honda. Though I do have some rules to make this a little interesting and challenging." he tilted his shades forward a bit, letting his violet eyes stare the group down. "Such as; absolutely no communication of any sort with your partner. No sign language, no Morse code, nothing. No communication between you what so ever."

"Yami, you're joking right?" Jonouchi paled. "I mean how are we going to know what the other is thinking-"

"That's the point of the exercise, Jou, There's going to be duels where you need to rely on trusting your teammate." He took out his deck and smiled. "Now, let's get this duel underway, shall we?"

The group nodded and made their way to a shaded bench area. Hearts were pounding in anticipation as the decks were shuffled. Each duelist drew their five cards, Tori glanced to each of them; his partner and teacher held a calm poker face, Jonouchi had a small grin, and Honda? Well he was hard to read in general. Tori looked down at his hand and smiled slightly; talk about luck of the draw! Dark Magician of Chaos, Call of the Haunted, Card Destruction, Mirror Force and Queen's Knight. This was perfect, and depending on what he drew could help start things off with a bang.

"Tori, as the new duelist. Why don't you start things off?" Yami said, not even looking from his cards.

"Of course." Tori drew and smiled. Black Pendent!

"Alright, to start things off, I summon the Queen's Knight in attack mode, then as a bonus I'll give her the black pendent and boost her up to 2000 attack points!" He smiled. "Then I'll play two cards face down and end my turn."

Jonouchi grinned, "Already starting things off with a bang huh kiddo?" he smiled and drew. "I think I'll do the same. I summon Axe Raider in attack mode, and like you I'll put a card face down."

"Somehow I'm not remotely surprised you two are going to start us strong." Yami chuckled. "But, I think I'll just play two cards face down and that's it."

"Callin' forth the Cyber Commander!" Honda slapped the card in defense mode. "Come and get us."

Tori rubbed his forehead. So far the duel was one thing after another. The teams life points stood with Jonouchi and Honda at 5200 whereas he and Yami had 4800, the odds weren't really looking in their favor. The field wasn't looking so good either, Jonouchi had Jinzo that can demolish any and all traps, Honda was wide open with a face down, Yami had his Dark Magician, and him? He had Magician's Valkyria. There was a way to get rid of that mechanic menace, and he and the spell in his had. Black Magic Ritual, he could sacrifice the two magicians and take Jinzo down once and for all. True he had the face down to worry about, but would it really be okay to take his teacher's monster to the grave?

"Tori, I may be breaking a rule here but, if you have something you believe is going to work. Use it. I trust you."

"But Yami-"

"The point of a tag duel is to trust your partner, and I trust you. Use whatever you believe is going to turn this duel around."

Tori nodded once and turned back to the field. "I play the Black Magic Ritual, by sacrificing our magicians I can bring forth the Magician of Black Chaos to the field!"

"If I may Tori, I think he'll do better with a little power up from the Book of Secret Arts, giving him the extra three hundred points."

Jonouchi paled a little. "3100 attack points?!"

"Oh you know it, Jonouchi. Say good bye to Jinzo!"

4500 for team Jonouchi and Honda, 4800 for team Yami and Tori.

The young duelist had a triumphant smile on his face, Jonouchi and Honda were looking at their cards flustered and nervous. Honda looked to his partner.

"Don't suppose you have another Time Wizard?"

"No, but I have something better." Jonouchi grinned, "I'll play this magic card face down and end my turn. Your turn Yami."

"Somehow, I know what you're planning." Yami shrugged. "I simply pass my turn."

"Seriously?" Honda drew his card and looked at it. I think I'll bring back Machine King from the graveyard with monster reborn!"

But that card was weak. Tori raised an eyebrow and looked to his teacher, he just simply passed and with nothing to defend him Honda could declare an attack! Yami on the other hand just sat there with a calm expression beneath his shades, he tilted his head to Tori and just shook his head no. No? No what?

"I think I'll just end my turn." Honda leaned back.

"You made the mistake of not attacking." Tori pointed out. "Magician of Black Chaos, attack the Machine King!"

"Thanks kid! You activated my spell, Roulette Spider!" Jonouchi flipped his spell. "Here's the thing, one in six chances where you either succeed in your attack on the machine king, attacking one of us directly, or destroying your own life points." He held his hand out with the die in his hand. "Go ahead and roll kiddo, see what Lady Fate has in store for ya!"

Tori paled and accepted the die, he shook it and looked to Yami for silent support before rolling, he needed an even number of some kind if he wanted to keep their life points! Yami watched as the die danced before landing on a two.

"Lucky roll, a direct attack." Yami mused.

 **1400 for Jonouchi's team.**

"However, you were still reckless." Yami scolded.

Tori just flinched and looked away; Jonouchi laid a card face down, Yami summoned Alpha the Magnet warrior, used a spell to rid the face down and attack Jounochi directly. The game was over. After everyone picked up their cards, they walked off to the nearest ice cream stand. The walk was quiet save for Jonouchi giving Tori some tips and pointers for future duels as well as card recommendations to help make his monsters a little stronger or to give his deck an extra punch! Yami just had a faint smile as his friend was helping his student, they were of kinder spirits the way they played.

"Right, uh Yami?" Tori called.

"Yes Tori?"

"About the duel, and the play I made-"

"Don't worry about it, that's just another lesson to take in. Understanding subtle tips from your teammate." Yami took his wallet out. "My treat tonight boys."

"YES! FREE FOOD!" Jonouchi cheered

"This is why you're my best friend, Yug!" Honda cheered as he held onto Yami.

Tori just stared, "Wait a damn minute..." he stared at his teacher with wide eye. "My teacher is Yugi Mutou!?"

"Whoops?" Honda paled. "Right, that was suppose to be a secret."

"Nice goin' blockhead." Jonouchi smacked Honda upside the head.

Yugi sighed and removed the shades and undid his hair tie, ruffling it to stand on its points again. "I was hoping to have you find out at the New Year's tourney."


End file.
